What is Sociology?

Sociology The scientific study of social behavior and human groups. Sociology observes and studies social problems and social patterns. It focuses on the group dynamic. The study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society. The study of social patterns and problems. Focuses on social relationships, how those relationships influence people’s behavior, and how societies develop and change. The study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society. The study of social problems.

Social Sciences Sociology is considered a social science Study of the social feature of humans and the ways in which they interact and change. Sociology is considers a new science (1838) Social Sciences include: Anthropology Psychology Economics History Sociology Political Science

Thinking Sociologically How might research on alcohol use differ among these three disciplines? Biology Physical attributes such as genetic predispositions or physiological responses to alcohol use. Psychology Depression related alcohol use or how behavior may be altered by actual or perceived consumption of alcohol. Sociology Societal expectations for alcohol or in the cultural acceptance of alcohol.

Sociological Imagination C. Wright Mills The Sociological Imagination (1959) Accepted definition is, “...the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society” The task of sociology is to realize that individual circumstances are linked to the structure of society Your Sociological Imagination gives you the ability to see the relationship or link between events in your personal life and events in society. “Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both.”

Sociological Imagination Used to view the social world from the outside perspective of others. Sociologists focus on the common behaviors of groups as opposed to the individual. Focus is on the social, economic, and historical circumstances rather than the individual. Ability to detach oneself from assumptions about social life in order to critically analyze social behavior.

The sociological perspective is a viewpoint on human behavior and its connection to society as a whole. It invites us to look for the connections between the behavior of individual people and the structures of the society in which they live. (Peter L. Berger) The way people look and think about different things. Sociology is the scientific study of social structure and social perspective. Sociological Perspective

Ask yourself… Why have thousands of jobs moved from the United States to developing nations? Do social forces promote prejudice? If so, which ones? What leads someone to join a social movement and work for social change? Why do relationships between men and women in Meridian differ from those in Syria or Iraq?

Social Structure and Imagination Social Structure is social organization based on established patterns of social interaction in different relationships (parents and children, teachers and students, employers and employees) regulated through accepted norms and shared values. Social Imagination is the ability of individuals to see the relationship between events in their personal lives and events in their society. Do people want social structure in their life? Can it be avoided? (FWP)

Role of Theoretical Perspectives A set of assumptions accepted as true…